A Special Wreath

Hello Krafty friends! I’ve wanted to share this special project that I created for a while, but life moves fast and I often find myself busy with other projects these days.

Like many of you, card making is a labor of love. Every project is crafted with care and special details in mind for the recipient. I have created many cards and projects over the years and each one has been special in it’s own way. However, I don’t think any have been as important as this particular project.

In November of 2019, my Father-In-Law; Pat Meyer passed away. Obviously this was an incredibly difficult time for my husband and his siblings. A celebration of life was held in November so that the family could gather and celebrate the life of my Father-In-Law.

I had the great pleasure of getting to know my husband’s father over the course of 10 years from the time my husband, Gary and I met in July 2009. It was not nearly enough time!

Pat Meyer was a self-taught carpenter who helped design and build several homes. He was kind, smart, quick-witted, funny, loving, a mentor and a friend to everyone he met, an avid fisherman and proud father to his 3 children and 10 grandkids. He was a former alcoholic who had been sober for 31 years and a sponsor for many who were going through AA.

In other words, he was an all-around good guy! I feel blessed beyond measure to have known him and even more blessed that I married his son who also has so many of those great qualities that his dad had.

On Memorial Day of this year, my husband and I and my mom traveled to Clear Creek Reservoir just outside of Buena Vista, Colorado to spread his ashes.

I thought it would be nice to create something that would help memorialize my Father-In-Law in nature that we could visit and remember him in years to come.

To do that, I ordered some seed paper from Botanical Paper Works. There are a few different types of seed paper but I selected the type that should ultimately grow wildflowers. I selected shades of blue-green and blue to create my wreath but there are quite a few colors to choose from on their website.

In order to create a form for the wreath, I used 2 pieces of chipboard and I hand sketched a half circle wreath form on each piece of chipboard.

Next, I cut out the half circle wreath form. When finished, they looked sort of like the letter C. I overlapped each half and glued them together with some Bearly Art liquid glue. I made sure to sit something heavy on each overlapping section until they were dry. I also added a bit of floral tape around these sections for some added stability.

Once they were dry, I was able to paint the wreath form with some water based paints I had in my stash. I went with a darker color grey so that the brown chipboard wouldn’t show through.

While the paint was drying I began die cutting the greenery for my wreath. The seed paper is fairly thick but I was able to cut it with a manual die cutting machine. A note however, the paper is dyed and so that dye tends to come off on your cutting plates. I would use an older set of cutting plates if you want to try a similar project. I was able to use baby wipes to clean most of the excess dye ink off my mats but I was not able to get them completely clean. However, I haven’t noticed it coming off on any other projects.

My original plan was to use the MFT Die-namics Grand Greenery Outline die for the wreath, but it turned out to be a bit challenging to get the paper out of the fine detail die without tearing it. Instead I used the Simon Says Stamp Etched Laurel Leaves die set and it worked perfectly for cutting all of my leaves for the wreath.

I cut all of the leaves using 3 blue-green colors of seed paper. The die cutting took me 2 or 3 days to get all of the leaves cut. I used some little trays to keep the different colors separate so that it was easy to assemble my wreath.

I also cut two different colors of small flowers from some light blue and mid-tone blue seed paper. The flower die was from a Spellbinders Mini Blooms and Sprigs Die set that I happened to have sitting on my desk at the time. I thought it coordinated well with the leaves.

For the bow on the top of the wreath I used the Mini Gift Box dies from Concord & 9th as well as the skinny tag that came with the set. I die cut both from the lightest color of blue.

To assemble the wreath I simply layered the leaves from darkest to lightest building on each layer. All of the leaves were adhered to the wreath form with the Barely Art liquid glue. I did set some heavy 12 x 12 paper packs on top once all of the layers of the Laurel Leaves were glued into place.

Finally, I added the flowers on the top layer as well as the bow and tag.

I created a hook on the back with some floral wire and used a drop of hot glue to hold it in place. The finished wreath was about 8 inches wide.

For Memorial Day weekend this year, my husband and I stopped at the Sanctuary outside of Sedalia, CO which is where the Celebration of Life was held for my Father-in-Law. It’s a very peaceful place that has a nature area behind it where you can leave gifts and mementos for love ones who have passed. We left the wreath there, staking it into the ground under a nice group of Aspen trees. We buried it with a bit of nearby soil and spread a few ashes with it. There’s a sprinkler nearby so the hope is that someday the seed paper will germinate into a beautiful cluster of wild flowers. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate his life and the memory of him. I can only hope that I have a “green thumb” this one time in my life!

We also drove to Buena Vista that day which is absolutely beautiful. It’s about a 3 hour drive outside of Denver. I can’t believe I’ve lived in Colorado most of my life and I’ve never been there. It’s so pretty!

We made our way to one of my Father-in-Law’s favorite fishing spots just outside of Buena Vista called Clear Creek Reservoir where we spread the rest of his ashes. He is finally at peace in the most picturesque place.

Pat Meyer will be forever in our hearts!

Thank you for stopping by today!

Hugs,

Tonya